How To Change The Primary Mouse Button On Windows 10

Laptops, keyboards, and pointing devices are all, by default, configured to be used by people who are right-handed. If you’re left handed, you will need to buy a laptop built for you and not all models may be available in that configuration. The problem doesn’t stop with laptops though. A mouse and a touchpad are also configured such that the left button is the primary mouse button, and the right button is the secondary one.

The good news is that you don’t need to get a new mouse to change the primary mouse button. You can change it from Windows. There’s a dedicated setting for it.

Swap Primary Mouse Button

Open the Settings app and go to the Devices group of settings. Select the Mouse tab, and open the ‘Select your primary button’ dropdown. Select Right instead of the default Left option.

The change takes effect right away. If you left click after making this change, the left mouse button will now open the menu that the right-click button did. Likewise, the right button will select items, and when double-clicked, will open folders, files, and execute apps.

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This change will also impact the buttons on your trackpad. There’s no separate setting for the trackpad’s buttons. The change you make on the Mouse tab will also control the buttons on the touchpad. Not all touchpads have dedicated right and left buttons. Some can only be clicked to execute the left click and the right-click is simulated by double-tapping on the touchpad. This change will also effect a touchpad that’s designed to work this way.

There are, very likely, apps that can also change your primary mouse button however it’s best to use the built-in option because all apps will respond to it.

If, for some reason, you don’t see this dropdown on the Mouse tab, scroll down on this same tab and click ‘Additional mouse options’. This will open the mouse settings window that the Control Panel has.

The Mouse Properties window has a Buttons tab which ought to have an option called ‘Switch primary and secondary buttons’ option. Select it and it will swap the left button’s function with that of the right button.

Windows 10 also lets you change the scroll direction of the mouse wheel but there isn’t any way to change what the wheel click does. If you use a touchpad exclusively, and not a mouse, you should look into what you can do with different gestures.